A bit about me :)

Sarah-Ellen Calise
Aug 31, 2018 · 5 min read
This is me this past summer in Morocco right before riding a camel on the beach!

Hi, my name is Sarah-Ellen Calise. I am currently a junior at Northern Vermont University-Lyndon. I am in the process of getting my bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science and an associate’s degree in Electronic Journalism Arts. Some people get a kick out of the fact that I knew I wanted to attend Northern Vermont University-Lyndon since sixth grade, although it was called Lyndon State College back then.

I was born in 1998 so that means that social media has been a big part of my life growing up. I remember when I was in middle school begging my parents for a Facebook account so that I could talk to all of my friends because they wouldn’t let me have a cell phone, which I would also beg for. Facebook was the big thing.

Nowadays I still use Facebook as a way of staying in touch with family members but also getting the news. When it came to other things to do in social media, I was a bit more hesitant. I didn’t get a twitter account until my junior year of high school because, in all honesty, I thought that twitter was dumb. However, over the summer before my senior year, I took a class called mass media in which we talked about news and if we could trust what we were reading/seeing and how to effectively share our own news. That class required us to use Twitter and reluctantly I created an account. During that class, I realized that I actually liked Twitter and started using it for gathering news. Although I use all the common social media now, like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Linkedin, it took me a while to actually get there.

I was born and raised in a small town in central New Hampshire that no one ever has heard about. I was born with a birth injury called Erb’s Palsy which is a brachial plexus injury. I had tendon transfer surgery when I was three and a half and after I had to wear a half body cast for six weeks. Even though this surgery helped with my range of motion, I still am left with nerve pain, loss of feeling or oversensitivity in my right arm, and reduced mobility and strength. Most people can’t tell that I have this injury unless I point it out to them, which is kind of funny to watch their reaction when they see that my right arm is shorter than my left.

My sister and I

I have a little sister even though she isn’t that little because we are 15 months apart, which was quite interesting growing up. But I love her and we get along really well now that we are older. I like to say that I have a small ‘farm’ at my house with a family of four, two cats, two dogs, two rabbits, and some fish taking up all the room.

Even though I grew up in New Hampshire and lived 30 minutes away from a ski resort, I never learned how to ski until my sophomore year of college. I have fallen (a lot!) in love with skiing and I can’t wait for winter to come so that I can get on those slopes. I do a lot around campus with being a tutor/writing consultant and being apart of a handful of clubs. I love being busy and having something to do, although a nice relaxing weekend of binge-watching Netflix is always nice.

When it comes to getting my degrees, I can’t believe that I am already in my junior year. I am proud of all the work that I am doing to get both of my degrees. Even though there are a lot of things that I am proud of when it comes to getting my degrees, I think that I am most proud of learning how to communicate in a way that my audience can understand and like. Whether that be the weather forecast, climate change, or another news story I am glad that I can get it out in a way that is engaging and informative.

Getting to my junior year wasn’t easy. There were a lot of obstacles that I encountered that weren’t all academic related. There was a time in which that I just wanted to drop out of college because I thought that it was too hard and that I couldn’t deal with what was being thrown at me. Obviously, I stayed at college (which I am so happy I did). With the help and support of my family, friends, and the staff at the University, I learned how to deal with all of my challenges. I now know that it’s okay to ask for help and that you don’t always need to be the best. So now when I face a challenge, I know how to tackle it head on so that I don’t get overwhelmed and I can succeed at whatever the task is.

I have always loved reading and writing. I have always gotten my highest grades in English classes. I am a good reader and writer although I do struggle with grammar every now and then. However, reading all the books that I have, I know that I am the most creative if I’m really anxious (which I know doesn’t make much sense) or right after I finish reading something.

When it came to the podcast I found it really interesting. I thought it was really interesting that in the beginning of the podcast they were talking about what social media used to be like when it first came around as to what its used for now. I can defiantly understand this because I remember what Facebook used to be like when it first started, where people would just share what was happening during their day and keeping in touch with people. Even though Facebook is still like that to a point today, there is a more news aspect to it.

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